Jose Mourinho again turned on his own team, admitting that Andrea Belotti was not supposed to take the penalty and declaring that things “are different with Paulo Dybala.”
The Giallorossi once more put on a dismal overall display and only managed to salvage a 1-1 draw with Nemanja Matic in stoppage time after Dybala’s curler hit the crossbar.
Before that, Dybala was awarded a penalty and Karol Linetty was given a free header. Belotti hammered the shot off the upright.
With many challenges that were strongly contested as fouls, Mourinho also lost his cool on the sidelines in the last moments.
Mourinho spoke to DAZN, saying: “It was the right decision, my words to the referee deserved a red card.”
“I spoke to him after the game and apologised, but I don’t want to talk about his performance. I was humble enough to apologise, but I will leave his performance and the hypothetical influence on the match to you. I don’t want to talk about what we said, that was private. My words deserved a red card, but I will not judge the referee’s performance.”
After the 1-1 draw with Sassuolo, Mourinho made headlines by keeping Rick Karsdorp out of the team and accusing him of “betraying his colleagues” by adopting a “unprofessional attitude” when serving as a substitute.
“There are two games tonight, one until the 70th minute and one after. Until the 70th, Roma fans wanted to just go home, but in the final 20 minutes we created more, perhaps more than we have done in the last four or five games. Why? Easy, because Dybala came on.”
“When you have a player like Paulo and he doesn’t play, it’s different. How many extra points would we have now if Dybala hadn’t been injured? There are teams who have marvellous players all the way through the squad, we have what we have.
“I don’t want to hide, there are players here who right now are performing at a very low level. The break is coming up, it will be the right moment for certain players to look at themselves and try a little self-criticism.”
“Despite all these problems, we are a united group. A team that misses a penalty at the 92nd minute is usually dead, but not us, we kept going. I called these final 20 minutes the ‘minutes of hope’ that one day we can play Pellegrini and Dybala together.”
Belotti took the penalty against his former teammate Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and blasted it onto the upright, which led to misunderstanding during the penalty incident.
“Belotti was not the designated penalty taker. I won’t tell you who was,” added Mourinho.
“This is the type of situation that can happen. The problem is when people don’t give what they can, I don’t like psychological frailty. Belotti showed courage to take it and make that mistake. You cannot say he lacked courage.”
At a news conference that followed, Mourinho said he would tell a reporter “outside” what had happened at Roma “provided you agree not to expose it to another soul.”
“Why do you need an external force of motivation if you are a player who became a professional out of millions and millions of kids who wanted to live this life? You are privileged. You are a man, not a child. Why do you need a coach to motivate you? The coach can add that extra, that plus, but need basic motivation to do your job? No.”
Jose Mourinho Slams Players
Rick Karsdorp losing favor at Stadio Olimpico after being warned by his manager that he had “betrayed his team-mates” has caused the outspoken coach to once again make headlines frequently.
After Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Torino, in which Nemanja Matic scored a late equalizer after Andrea Belotti earlier missed a penalty against his former team, Mourinho’s mood did not improve much. According to the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager, many people in the Italian capital need to step up their game.
Roma is only three points behind the top four in Serie A when the World Cup break gets underway.
When Roma resumes competitive play in 2023 with a home match against Bologna on January 4, Jose Mourinho will be expecting to have everyone healthy and performing to their full ability.
